A Letter on Justice and Open Debate – Part 2 of 2

Hello My Imaginary Friends,

A who’s who of Writers, Journalists, Professors, and other people released A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. It’s actually a fascinating read; one of those letters crafted with just the right level of language to seem reasonable and intellectual at the same time.

If you’ve read articles about the letter, you’ll notice they use “Free Speech” and “Cancel Culture” in the titles of those articles… That’s not in the letter. The letter is much too high class to lower itself to using those words.

If you want a logical and well thought out rebuttal and analysis of the letter, I recommend reading: ‘Cancel Culture’ Is How the Powerful Play Victim. It does a great job of explaining the hypocrisy of the letter.

Cancel Culture

The Letter makes reference to “calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.” This is another way of saying Cancel Culture. What does this mean? Cancel Culture is a term used to reference public outcry to stop listening or supporting people who have expressed or done bad things. Tumblr has a term for these people: “Problematic Fave”.

The letter makes it sound like this stifles free expression and hurts people who’ve made mistakes. This argument is pretty weak when you consider that Jordan Peterson, Joss Whedon, James Gunn, and J. K. Rowling are all still gainfully employed in their fields. (Also Trump… arg)

It’s an argument that is stated, often, by people who oppose the Me Too Movement or Black Lives Matter. The term is used as a cudgel against criticism.

Doing hateful things or expressing hateful opinions has consequences, not as many as there should be, but more than there was.

So advocates and us SJWs have been accused of cancelling people and destroying their lives. The signatories on this list remind me of conventions.

There was a convention I went to where someone who creates things that aren’t own voice (art created by those who have lived them) was angered and incensed by an advocate mentioning the harmful content they included in their creations. The creator moaned and complained and made a big fuss. They were not alone; similar creators did the same thing.

The advocate who complained participated in other events at other conventions and were told that they needed to tone it down. They were being too aggressive and making people uncomfortable. The advocate for their own rights was told that they needed to be calmer and not rock the boat. They were then told they wouldn’t be able to participate in those events.

This is the real Cancel Culture and it’s not new. Minorities have been told that they need to baby those in power and if they refuse, they are often shut out. Shut out of events, jobs, activities, etc.

My story is vague to protect those in it and because I have a small platform that is quite fragile, naming names would get me cancelled.

It’s not the rich and powerful being criticized that, “will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time”; its rich privileged people playing victim while minorities and victims are shut down that is what has been hurting our society for far too long.

Be kind to each other,

Éric

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1 thought on “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate – Part 2 of 2”

  1. Criticism =/= censorship. I wish more people would understand this.

    Also, the sheer hypocrisy of folks yelling that they’re allowed their opinions, while simultaneously crying foul when others do the same (but at the OP) really makes my blood boil.

    Reply

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